When we watch the World Triathlon Championship Series, we see the best triathletes in the world go head to head. For a number of junior athletes across the world, watching the WTCS comes with the aspiration of one day joining the ranks of the triathlon elite.
As a result, there is an important question to ask.
What does it take to make the start list of a WTCS race?
Having surveyed a number of the elite selection policies of some of the best countries in the world, this article sheds light on what it actually takes to race at the WTCS level.
For the purposes of this survey, we have only looked at the 2022 selection criteria as they are the most indicative of current practices by National Federations and the 2023 criteria are not yet available for several countries.
Great Britain
The British team is arguably one of the strongest in the world and has taken 7 individual Olympic medals from the past 3 Games.
In the British WTCS selection policy, selection is divided into automatic and discretionary picks. The team has 5 slots to fill at each WTCS race (7 at its home race in Leeds) although if more slots become available then they are allocated by world rankings.
There are 13 points that an athlete can satisfy to earn automatic selection. These include (in descending importance): a medal at the Tokyo Olympics, multiple WTCS podiums, a top-5 a the Tokyo Olympics, a WTCS podium, and a top-8 in a WTCS race. The minimum result an athlete needs for automatic selection is a top-20 finish at a WTCS race.
The discretionary selections for the British team cover three areas. The first is for athletes that have not hit the automatic criteria due to personal circumstances, such as injury. The second is that the selection is for an athlete that can fulfil a “pilot” function insofar that they can help an athlete on the team towards a medal. The third is for athletes with no or a low ranking profile but that is rapidly improving.
Australia
The Australian team was mired in controversy after its performance at the Tokyo Olympics with some blaming the nation’s selection policies.
Similarly to Great Britain, the Australian WTCS policy is broken into automatic and discretionary. To be automatically selected, an athlete must be one of the top-3 Australians in the world rankings.
Thereafter any selections are discretionary. The policy does include some recommended performance standards for discretionary picks, including a top-25 finish at the WTCS, a World Cup win or two World Cup podiums. However these standards are not fixed in place.
United States
The American team has a simple policy. To race at the WTCS level an athlete must either be a member of the US National Team or must have achieved a World Cup top-30 in the past 18 months.
For American athletes, then, the key is to get onto the US National Team. Once that is achieved, the question is only securing enough points to ensure that they can race if selected.
Canada
The Canadian team has a different approach to the British and Australian teams. Whereas the discretionary selection tool is secondary for the other teams, for Canada discretionary selections for the first priority.
Thereafter, there are 6 criteria that an athlete can fulfil to earn WTCS selection ranging from a WTCS top-5 to a World Cup top-12.
As per the policy “discretionary selection is at the sole authority of the High Performance Director” with advice from the High Performance Advisory Committee. The Director assess an athlete’s performances and trajectory but also accounts for the goals of Triathlon Canada, such as securing individual and relay qualifying slots at the Olympic Games.
Germany
The German team might actually have the most clarity on how to start a WTCS race.
For a senior athlete, they must be ranked in the top-80 of the World Triathlon rankings. Meanwhile U23 athletes must be in the top-120 of the World Triathlon rankings.
Compared to a lot of other nations, that might be the most efficient cut-off in what it takes to start.
Spain
In contrast to Germany, the Spanish team have one of the most complicated policies with revolving criteria for each WTCS race.
Selection essentially boils down as follows. First preference goes to the number 1 ranked athlete in the World Triathlon rankings. Second preference is based on either performance at the most recent designated race (for example, the best finisher at the Valencia World Cup earned selection for WTCS Bermuda) or the best Spanish athlete in the WTCS top-10. Finally the third preference is a discretionary pick.
For WTCS Cagliari, an additional selection point was added for the winner of the Spanish Championships in Banyoles, which relegated the discretionary clause to the fourth preference.
If in doubt, it is best to be either Javier Gomez or Mario Mola and just be world champion when trying to race for Spain. That way everything is simple.
France
The French team is the final team we assessed and the only policy we could find was for the Abu Dhabi Final.
To race in Abu Dhabi, athletes were ranked according to the following order of importance.
First priority went to athletes with a top-6 finish at the Tokyo Olympics. Then athletes with a top-8 at WTCS Yokohama were picked, followed by athletes with a top-3 at another WTCS race. Next, athletes were picked on the basis of their results at the European Championships in Munich. A top-3 or top-6 was required, depending on how strong the French Performance Director deemed the field. Finally, any final slots were given to discretionary selections.
Therefore, for any athlete out there with multiple citizenships to choose from, it may be worth picking and choosing based on the relevant WTCS selection criteria.
For the majority of our readers, though, these criteria serve as an indication of the standards required to step onto the start line of a WTCS race. As the sport grows and the elite field deepens, it is worth noting who is starting for which country and who is possibly missing the cut as a result of their federation’s policies.
